“Currently, the world of sweetener economics revolves around sugar prices, which are very high and unpredictable, particularly in the United States," says Ihab Bishay, director, business development and application innovation. “At the same time, the cost of high-fructose corn syrup, which has generally been the economical alternative to sugar, is also going up."

As a result, the company is seeing growing interest among food and beverage manufacturers to replace at least some of the sugar in their products with alternative sweeteners, “as a way of hedging against the price increases for caloric sweeteners," Bishay says. “What we’re seeing is that industry is looking for sweeteners that can replace 20% to 40%, or even more, sugar to reduce cost of the formulation. Leading the way in this effort is aspartame."

Its taste profile is similar to sugar, yet it is 180 to 200 times more potent, so its cost per use is much lower. Further, aspartame enhances flavors, maintaining the integrity and quality of a flavor without distorting it. When reformulating a product, reduced flavor usage may be necessary to maintain an exact flavor match. But this, too, results in cost savings, Bishay notes. And, in this day of growing health consciousness among consumers, aspartame also offers reduced calories and carbohydrates.

I figure they might put fake sweeteners in so if they have a nutrition information list somewhere, their items are lower calorie. I believe some places like Applebees offer Weight Watchers meals and they might even list the points values. And Subway has calorie listings on the menus, where I live anyway. This way, they can say "Oh, our foods are low cal."

But I always naively assumed that it was because they used lowfat cheese, or not a lot of butter, not because they were adding aspartame or who knows what else to my dishes. Yikes.

I figure they might put fake sweeteners in so if they have a nutrition information list somewhere, their items are lower calorie. I believe some places like Applebees offer Weight Watchers meals and they might even list the points values. And Subway has calorie listings on the menus, where I live anyway. This way, they can say "Oh, our foods are low cal."

But I always naively assumed that it was because they used lowfat cheese, or not a lot of butter, not because they were adding aspartame or who knows what else to my dishes. Yikes.

I bet you're right. It is Applebees that has the WW sub-menu, and I bet plenty of restaurants put in fake sweeteners to lower calorie and sugar counts so their meals seem healthier on paper. I am just trying to figure out why they're in some foods at all, but I just don't tend to put a lot of sweeteners in most of my food.

Logged

What part of v_e = \sqrt{\frac{2GM}{r}} don't you understand? It's only rocket science!

"The problem with re-examining your brilliant ideas is that more often than not, you discover they are the intellectual equivalent of saying, 'Hold my beer and watch this!'" - Cindy Couture

POD, and not just because of the generally sub-par food. I'm a vegetarian (I eat no red meat, poultry or seafood, but I do eat eggs and dairy), and there was absolutely NOTHING on their lunch menu I could eat without making a special request--e.g. "please leave the chicken off the salad." Yes, even their salads, every single one, had animal flesh on them, and there were no vegetarian entrees. Granted, this Applebee's was in a part of my state where there's a lot of cattle ranching--but even in cattle country, I've been able to find at least one thing on the menu I can eat at various types of restaurants: sandwich shops, Mexican, Italian, Chinese, Thai. That was the first and only time I'd gone to a restaurant with my mother and not been able to find ANYTHING vegetarian on the regular menu.

Logged

“The best lightning rod for your protection is your own spine.”--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Considering the number of times I've wondered if I actually did something or just THOUGHT about doing it, I can totally see doing that. But it'd also be really easy to check on - does the customer have it? No? Then give it to them.

Logged

What part of v_e = \sqrt{\frac{2GM}{r}} don't you understand? It's only rocket science!

"The problem with re-examining your brilliant ideas is that more often than not, you discover they are the intellectual equivalent of saying, 'Hold my beer and watch this!'" - Cindy Couture

Please remember that food service staff is frequently only really "trained" on how to operate the register to ring in orders, and how to sell the menu dishes. It's not rocket science, just a demanding physical job. I got a bit of training on allergens and ingredient lists and cross-contamination avoidance when I worked in a deli - but in a restaurant, you frequently don't even know how the kitchen actually prepares the dish.

I developed a temporary case of lactose intolerance one summer and couldn't join my friends for trivia in a nearby pizza restaurant - everything, and I do mean everything, had contact with butter or cheese in the kitchen.

She'd arrived a couple minutes before her order was ready. An employee was talking to someone who was obviously a friend. The friend mentioned a need to change her toddler's diaper, but instead of going to the ladies' room, plopped toddler on the counter and changed him.

The employee then slid Neighbor's order across the counter. The items were in a bag, but she was still put off. She said "no thanks," and employee asked why. The explanation, "You just let your friend change her baby on the counter," left the employee confused. "But I wiped it off." she said.

It does make one wonder what happens when no one (and where no one) is watching.

POD, and not just because of the generally sub-par food. I'm a vegetarian (I eat no red meat, poultry or seafood, but I do eat eggs and dairy), and there was absolutely NOTHING on their lunch menu I could eat without making a special request--e.g. "please leave the chicken off the salad." Yes, even their salads, every single one, had animal flesh on them, and there were no vegetarian entrees. Granted, this Applebee's was in a part of my state where there's a lot of cattle ranching--but even in cattle country, I've been able to find at least one thing on the menu I can eat at various types of restaurants: sandwich shops, Mexican, Italian, Chinese, Thai. That was the first and only time I'd gone to a restaurant with my mother and not been able to find ANYTHING vegetarian on the regular menu.

Same thing here. I know I can't be the only vegetarian who's ever gone to Applebee's. I was really surprised that there wasn't a single salad, pasta dish, or something else vegetarian on the menu.

I love Applebee's. I know exactly what quality food I'm going to be getting, and it's going to be the same mediocre quality no matter where in the country I go. I'd never stopped to think about the lack of vegetarian options, because I've never been a vegetarian. I've got some friends who can't eat red meat, and my sister can't eat pork, but Applebee's is one of the few places my whole family can go to without having a major argument and we can all get what we want. And the Sproglet loves the food there too.

I stopped frequenting a local food place. When I started going there it was delicious, and the owner was very involved. As a matter of fact, she saw my sister through her divorce, into her pregnancy, and since then whenever I happen to stop in, she asks about her and the baby. But when you go on touting how all your food is handmade and carefully put together, but I can't order a salad without the olives because it comes that way, it kind of tells me all I need to know about just how "handmade" it is.

Don't get me wrong, the food is actually pretty good, but the problem is they're trying to charge based on the price that authentic handmade food would be. But they can't guarantee that the food won't have come in contact with something because it comes to them pre-seasoned and they heat it on the grill. Or just take it out of the fridge and garnish and plate it. Her desserts, though, ARE handmade, I've seen them mixing them up and working on them. It's just not worth it for me to fight traffic to get there for something I can find elsewhere and pay less for.

VorFemme, I'm very sorry for your sister, but happy you posted about this. My sister has a bad reaction to all of them too.

I would have never thought a restaurant would use artificial sweeteners like that. Sure, add sugar to the flatbread crust and tomato sauce, but I wouldn't have thought they'd put in artificial sweeteners since so many people strongly dislike the flavor and they are more expensive.

I bet RegionMom is correct about them using it in an effort to be able to reduce calories.

Likewise, although I am sorry for your sister, I am glad to know this. This explains the raging 2-day migraine I had after a meal at TGIFridays.

I suffer from extremely severe migraines that are preceded with a seizure-like aura (usually about 12-24hrs prior to the migraine). The "aura" is, in every way, exactly like a temporal lobe or petit-mal seizure. So much so, in fact, that I was misdiagnosed as having epilepsy for years prior to a neurologist making a link between my "seizures" and the migraines that followed. I was taken off the absolutely ineffective anti-epileptic drugs and put on migraine meds, and things began to clear up. It's taken equally long to sort out what my triggers are, but artificial sweeteners (especially aspartame) tops the list.

Like your sister, it never would have occurred to me to look for it in cheese bread or chicken.

They are also finding that using artificial sweeteners can set up some people to want MORE food, as their body tries to use the calories from the "sugar" that it tasted and finds out that there aren't any calories immediately available (protein & fat take longer to digest to turn into calories) - so the restaurant may be selling appetizers & dinner to people who now want dessert because they don't feel "full" yet....

More food on the order is more money for the restaurant - but they can claim that it has lower calories so they aren't making anyone overeat...or some such drivel.